Compound liner



2 Sheets-Sheet l E. LAXO COMPOUND LINER l/V/E/VTO/Z.

[p LAXO July 31, 1956 Filed Oct. 10, 1951 E. LAXO COMPOUND LINER July31, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 10. 1951 //v VE TO/Q ED MXOATTGRNE) United States Patent COMPOUND LINER Ed Laxo, Oakland, Calif.

Application October 10, 1951, Serial No. 250,766

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) This invention relates to a compound liner forlining can ends with a sealing compound.

In the manufacture of cans, the curled edges of can ends are filled witha sealing compound to provide a compound liner or gasket. This liner orgasket is intended to form a seal when the end is clamped to a can bodyby a seaming operation.

In machines intended to apply compound liners or gaskets to can ends,which are known as compound liners, a plurality of pairs of chucks areprovided which are mounted for rotation about a central, vertical axis.Each pair of chucks comprises an upper chuck which is positively drivenand a lower chuck which carries the can ends and is driven by frictionalengagement of the superimposed can end with the upper chuck. A nozzle isemployed to apply sealing compound to the curl of the can ends as theyrotate with the chucks.

Machines of this character have been subject to certain disadvantages.The lining operation is e'ssentiallyquite simple but it must be carriedout at high speed in view of competitive conditions in the can industry.Slippage between the positively driven upper chucks and the frictionallydriven lower chucks occurs at the high speeds employed in commercialpractice. This slippage causes scratching of the can ends, particularlythose which are lacquered.

Also, in prior compound liners some of the sealing compound spills overonto the running mechanism of the lower chucks, congeals thereon andcauses drag and slippage. This slippage not only results in scratchingof the can ends but, also, in uneven application of the sealingcompound.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved compoundliner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compoundliner having certain features which eliminate or lessen certaindifliculties encountered with compound liners heretofore.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a compound linerincluding chucks for rotating the can ends during application of thesealing compound, in which the chucks are designed and operated in amanner to reduce or eliminate slippage.

Still another object is to provide shielding means for shielding movingparts of the machine from sealing compound that may leak or spill.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from theensuing description and the appended claims.

One form of the invention is illustrated by way of example in theaccompanying drawings and is described in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, ofthe compound liner of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a view taken along the line 11-11 of Figure 1, showing thelower chucks and chuck adapter in top plan.

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line III III of ice Figure 1,showing in detail the drive and lifter cam mechanism for the lowerchucks.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figure 1, themachine of the present invention is generally designated by the numeral10 and it comprises an upright column 11 to which is clamped a bottomsupport 12, as by means of set screws, one of which is shown at 13. Thecolumn 11 rotatably supports a lower or lifter chuck assembly 14 and anupper chuck assembly 15. The upper assembly 15 comprises a spider 16which is rotatable on the column 11 and which includes arms 16a each ofwhich is formed at its outer end with a sleeve 17 to receive bushings 18and a shaft 19. A chuck 20 is threaded to the lower end of each shaft19, the said chuck having a circular shape and a diameter somewhat lessthan that of the can ends, two of which are shown at 25. As illustrated,each chuck is formed with a downwardly projecting rim 26 and with acentral plug 27.

Each shaft 19 is yieldably urged downwardly by an expansion spring 28which is housed in and compressed by a cap 29 bolted to the spider 15 bya cap screw 30. The spring 28 bears against a ball bearing assembly 31which, together with a screw 32 and a washer 33, retain the shaft 19 inthe sleeve 17 and allow free rotation of the shaft.

The lower chuck assembly 14 comprises a spider 40 formed with a centralsleeve 41 which is rotatable on bushings 42 fixed to the column 11. Atits uppermost end the spider 40 is formed with a circular adapter plateand shield 43 which, as is most clearly shown in Figure 2, is formedwith circular openings 44 to receive the individual lifter chucks 45.The particular machine of Figures 1, 2 and 3 is provided with four setsof chucks, hence with four openings 44, but it will be apparent that agreater or lesser number of chucks and a corresponding number ofopenings may be provided.

The spider arms are in the form of upper and lower shirts or shields 46and 47, respectively, which serve as combined supporting elements andshields, in the manner and for the purpose explained hereinafter.

Formed integrally with and supported by the shields 46 and '47 are foursleeves 48 each of which contains bushings 49, which rotatably carry alifter shaft 50. At its upper end each shaft 50 is threaded to a chuck45 which is formed with an annular groove 56 to receive a correspondinggroove in a can end and to seat the can end snugly. As illustrated, thecurl 57 of the can end extends beyond the edge of the chuck. Near itslower end, and beneath the shields 46 and 47, a pinion 58 is keyed tothe shaft 50 and at its lowermost end the shaft 50 is provided withsupport and lifter means in the form of a lifter cam 60 which is boltedto a support ring 59 which in turn is bolted to the bottom support 12.The lifter cam 60 is formed with an annular cam track 61 having a lowdwell 65, a rise 66, a corresponding recede (not shown) and a high dwell67. Each lifter shaft 50 is provided with a cam roller 68 which rides inthe cam track 61 and is rotatably mounted on a shoe 69 which is bestshown in Figure 3. Each shoe 69 is retained on its lifter shaft 50 bymeans of a washer 70 and a cap screw 71 (see Figure 1).

A gear 72 is provided for driving both the lower chuck assembly 14 andthe upper chuck assembly 15 (which is fixed to the lower chuckassembly). The gear 72 is fixed to the spider 40 by means of cap screws73. A driving gear 74 (see Figure 3) serves to drive the gear 72.Rotation of the gear 72 will, of course, rotate the entire bottomassembly 14 and the top assembly 15 about the axis of the column 11. Atthe same time the lifter shafts 50 and chucks 45 are positively drivenabout their individual axes by means of a ring gear 75 which is fixed tothe lifter cam 65, as by means of screws 76, and the pinions 58 whichare fixed to the shafts 50. The pinions 58 mesh with the stationary ringgear 75, and it will be apparent that as the spider 40 and the lifterchucks 45 rotate about the axis of column 11, the pinions 58 will rollon the ring gear 75 and will, therefore, rotate the shafts 50 and chucks45 about their individual axes.

The machine thus described operates as follows: Can ends such as shownat 25 are fed to the machine by any suitable means. Such end feedmachine will, of course, be driven in timed relation to the dryingmachine of the present invention. Each can end is deposited on one ofthe lifter chucks 45 with its curl extending over the edge of the chuck.Meanwhile, a sealing compound will be sprayed by means of a nozzle suchas shown at 80 onto the curl of each can end as it passes by the nozzle.The machine will be driven by means of the gears 72 and 74. It will beseen that, at the receiving station A, the lifter chucks 45 and theupper chucks 20 are spaced apart sufliciently to receive the can ends asthey are fed to the machine. Continued rotation of the bottom chuckassembly 14 in counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 2, willcause each cam roller 68, in turn, to ride up the rise 66 from the lowdwell 65 to the high dwell 67, thereby lifting each chuck, in turn. Therise 66 is sufiicient to clamp the can end firmly against the upperchuck 2i) and to exert a compressive force on the spring 28. Continuedrotation will bring each pair of chucks and each can end into registrywith the nozzle 8%, which will spray sealing compound onto the curl andform a compound liner. The gears 58 and 75 will, meanwhile, rotate thelifter chucks 45 about the axes of lifter shafts 50. Consequently, thesealing compound will be applied to the entire circumference of the curl57. It will be apparent, of course, that as many nozzles 80 may be usedas desired or as may be necessary.

After the compound liner has been applied, each can end, in its turn,will be released as the corresponding cam roller 68 rides down thedecline of the cam groove. Appropriate ejector or deflector means (notshown) may be used to remove each can end from the machine.

Among the several advantages of the machine thus described andillustrated, may be mentioned the fol-lowing: The lower lifter chucks 45are positively driven whereas, in compound liners of prior design, theupper chucks are positively driven. The provision of a positive drivefor the lower chucks is advantageous, among other things, because lessslippage occurs. In machines of prior design, wherein the upper chuckshave been positively driven and the lower chucks are driven byfrictional engagement, the lower chucks tend to drag because of theirinertia and because the moving parts become fouled with compound liner.This is undesirable because it results in slippage and scratching of thecan ends, particularly those which are lacquered, and because it resultsin uneven application of the compound liner.

This ditficulty is obviated by the machine of my inven tion by reason ofthe positive drive provided for the lower chucks. The upper chucks areof relatively light construction and they are not subject to fouling bythe compound because they are located above the nozzle 80. Consequentlythe upper chucks rotate very freely and the can ends exhibit little orno tendency to slip.

A further advantage resides in the fact that, in the operation of acompound liner, a certain amount of spilling of the sealing compoundinevitably occurs. It will be apparent from an inspection of Figure 1that the lower portions of my machine, which are most likely to befouled by the spilled sealing compound, are effectively shielded by theshields 46 and 47. Also, even to the extent that moving parts of: thelower portion of the machine, such as the lifter chucks 45 and theirshafts 50, become fouled by compound liner, no drag or lag resultsbecause the lifter chucks are positively driven.

Iclaim:

1. A compound liner comprising a turret mounted for rotation about acentral, vertical axis; a plurality of upper, idler chucks disposedabout said axis and slidably mounted in and carried by said turret forrotation therewith aud for limited sliding movement in a verticaldirection, each said upper chuck being rotatable about its own axis andbeing adapted to engage a can end on a lower chuck to hold such can endin position on such lower chuck and to rotate by frictional engagementwith such can end and lower chuck; resilient means urging each upperchuck downwardly; a plurality of lower driving chucks also disposedabout said axis and in registry with said upper chucks to provide aplurality of pairs of aligned upper and lower chucks; each said lowerchuck being adapted to seat a can end and to drive its opposing upperchuck by frictional engagement therewith and being slidably carried bysaid turret for limited vertical movement; turret rotating means forrotating the entire turret assembly, including said upper and lowerchucks, about said central axis; means for simultaneously and positivelydriving said lower chucks to rotate the same about their individualaxes; and cam means for lifting and lowering said lower chucks to bringeach such chuck into operative engagement with its opposing upper chuckand to retract it from such upper chuck during each cycle of operation.

2. A compound liner comprising a vertical, stationary shaft; a sleeverotatably mounted on said shaft for rotation about the vertical axis ofthe shaft; an upper turret assembly fixed to said sleeve and comprisinga plurality of upper chucks dis-posed radially about said axis, eachsuch upper chuck being mounted for rotation about its own individualaxis and for limited vertical sliding movement; an expansion springyieldably urging each upper chuck downwardly; a shield plate fixed tosaid sleeve and disposed beneath said upper chucks and adjacent thereto,said shield plate being formed with a plurality of openings in registrywith said upper chucks; a lower turret assembly fixed to said sleeve andcomprising a plurality of lower, driving, lifter chucks in registry withsaid upper chucks and with the openings in said shield plate to providea plurality of aligned pairs of upper and lower chucks, each said lowerchuck being mounted for vertical, sliding movement and being alsorotatable about its own individual axis; means for rotating said sleeve;a ring gear fixed to said shaft and a pinion meshing therewith and fixedto each lower chuck for positively rotating said lower chucks as theentire lower turret assembly is rotated about said axis; lifter means inthe form of a cam fixed to the frame of the machine and a cam followerfixed to each lower chuck for alternately lifting and lowering suchchuck during each cycle of operation; and a lower shield disposedbetween said shield plate and said ring gear and pinions.

3. A compound liner comprising a plurality of pairs of chucks, each suchpair comprising an upper idler chuck and a lower driving chuck, eachlower chuck being adapted to support a can end in horizontal positionwith its curl accessible, each upper chuck being adapted to bear againstthe upper surface of a can end supported by the corresponding lowerchuck to clamp the can end to such lower chuck, meanwhile exposing thecurl of the can end; said compound liner also comprising turret meansrotatable about a central vertical axis and carrying said pairs ofchucks with the upper chuck of each pair in registry with the lowerchuck of such pair, said turret means rotatably supporting said chucksin such a manner as to render the curls of the can ends supported andclamped thereby accessible; said compound liner also comprising meansfor positively rotating the lower chucks about their individual axes asthe turret rotates about said central axis; said compound liner alsocomprising means for lifting each lower chuck into and maintaining it inoperative engagement with its upper chuck during a portion of each cycleof operation to clamp a can end, and for lowering each lower chuckduring another portion of such cycle to release the can end and topermit the placement of another can end on the lower chuck.

4. A compound liner comprising a plurality of pairs of chucks, each suchpair comprising an upper idler chuck and a lower driving chuck, eachlower chuck being adapted to support a can end in horizontal positionwith its curl accessible, each upper chuck being adapted to bear againstthe upper surface of the can end supported by the corresponding lowerchuck to clamp the can end to the lower chuck, meanwhile exposing thecurl of the can end; said compound liner also comprising turret meansrotatable about a central vertical axis and carrying said pairs ofchucks with the upper chuck of each pair in registry with the lowerchuck of such pair, said turret means rotatably supporting said chucksin such a manner as to render the curls of the can ends supportedthereby accessible and resiliently supporting the upper chucksfor only aslight degree of upward movement against a downward resilient force topermit firm clamping' of can ends; said compound liner also comprisingof such cycle to release the can end and to permit the placement ofanother can end on the lower chuck.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS908,373 Ayars Dec. 29, 1908 1,660,535 Van Halteren Feb. 28, 19281,848,382 Peters Mar. 8, 1932 2,109,505 Rue 2.. Mar. 1, 1938 2,110,755Bleakley Mar. 8, 1938 2,277,129 Miller Mar. 24, 1942 2,287,356 NewmanJune 23, 1942 2,351,200 George et al. June 13, 1944 2,404,233 HurleyJuly 16, 1946

